Advent Child
by ThereIsOnlyZuul
Summary: Cloud and Tifa have anything but a conventional relationship. Cloud disappears for months leaving Tifa lonely and worried. One night, when Cloud shows up at 7th Heaven after months of self-exile, Tifa takes it upon herself to change what her and Cloud have. It doesn't go as planned though and now Cloud is gone again and Tifa is worse off than before...
1. The Fight in the Church Part I

So here is a Final Fantasy: Advent Children fanfiction that I've had tucked away for a while now. Umm... there's not much to say about it except that the characters will seem a little out of character to any hardened Final Fantasy fans because I might have taken a few liberties with them - but hey, that's fanfiction for you :D

One new chapter will be added every Wednesday (hopefully - I do have a tendency to forget about things like this). So... yeah! Hope you enjoy it!

FYI, it has an M rating for chapters to come.

* * *

_Cloud, you better be in here because I've got nowhere else to look._

Tifa Lockhart stood with her hands on the giant wooden doors of the late Aerith Gainsborough's church: this was the last place she had left to look for Cloud Strife, who had been missing from her life for nearly three months.

"What are we waiting for?" asked little Marlene Wallace from behind Tifa. Marlene was a very smart and intelligent six year old, and it had even been her insistence that they search for Cloud here at Aerith's church. Of course Tifa knew that if they were to find him anywhere it would be here, but she was more than a little hesitant to intrude upon this place.

"I guess I was just waiting for a little help to open the door," Tifa smiled at the little girl. Marlene smiled back as she put her own small hands on the door and helped Tifa push them open. The door squeaked loudly on its rusted hinges and as the two of them walked over the threshold, they stirred up a lot of dust.

"No one has been here in a long time," Tifa commented as they strode down the aisle towards the altar. This church had long since fallen into disrepair. The roof over the altar and a large portion of the left wall had completely fallen down and the stone floor had been torn up and displaced enough for a large patch of yellow and white daffodils to prosper even though many claimed it was impossible to grow flowers - or even grass - in Midgar.

Many of the carved wooden pews still remained in fine condition and Tifa walked through them, searching for signs of a human resident. She found a mother cat with a nest of thee kittens tucked away into the corner of one of the pews but no sign of a person having slept on them… no sign of Cloud. Tifa sighed loudly as she sat on the pew dejectedly. This was her last hope to find Cloud and he wasn't here. She had something to tell him: something important.

_Maybe he wouldn't even care if I told him._ She thought, despair growing in her chest. The three kittens meowed and clamoured to climb over her, happy to have some company, and Tifa couldn't stay sad. She picked up a little grey and white one and nuzzled it to her face. It meowed and pawed at the wisps of hair that fell in front of her eyes.

"Tifa! Tifa look!" Marlene cried happily from the altar of the church. She was standing in the large patch of flowers and pointing at something. Tifa replaced the kitten she had in her hands with the mother cat, making sure to give her a scratch behind her ears and headed to where Marlene was.

"Tifa! Does Cloud _live_ here?"

Tifa looked to where little Marlene was pointing. Upon seeing that it was a fairly large collection of camping supplies and canned goods she smiled broadly. "Yeah, I guess he does."

"Why doesn't he live with us anymore?"

_Because he's too busy living out some ridiculous exile notion._

"He has… things he needs to work out."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know." Is what she replied to Marlene's sad eyes. "But I do know that we're going to stay here until he comes back for the night and give him a lecture, all right?"

Marlene smiled and laughed. "Okay!"

"And I know just the thing that will pass the time…"

* * *

Tifa stood in the small mass of flowers staring at the sky through the massive hole in the roof. Her eyes were gently unfocused as she absentmindedly touched her hand to her stomach. Everything was silent in Sector 5, having long been destroyed and abandoned. The only sounds were that of Marlene's giggles as she played with the kittens Tifa had shown her.

"Cloud… why would you just take off? Don't you love me? Have you ever even… loved me?"

"Tifa?"

Tifa, startled by Marlene's voice, turned quickly around. The little girl stood behind her with the grey kitten tucked under her arm. If she had heard any of what Tifa had just said, she didn't let on. "What is it, sweetie?"

"These kitties are old enough to be away from their mommy, right?"

"I think so."

"It's just that this grey one really likes me and I think I should have it."

"What about the other kittens and the mother? Won't they miss it?"

"His sisters might, but I think the mother wants me to have it - she kept nudging him towards me. So… can we keep him?"

Tifa looked into Marlene's pleading eyes before smiling and nodding: "If you're absolutely sure the mother won't mind, you can keep him."

"Really? Oh, thank you Tifa! I can't wait to tell Cloud!"

Tifa's ears suddenly perked to the sound of a motorcycle. _Cloud? Is that you? Were your ears burning?_

"Is that a motorcycle?" Asked Marlene as she noticed Tifa staring at the church doors.

"It sure is." Tifa smiled. She smiled wider as the doors were flung open. Marlene shrieked in joy and began to run towards the doors, but Tifa held her back.

It wasn't Cloud at the door.

It was a man with short, spiked silver hair. He was dressed all in black leather and on his left arm was some sort of armoured bracelet with two large prongs sticking out the top. He sauntered towards Tifa and Marlene with an all but savory smirk on his face.

"Where's Mother?" He stepped closer, his boots crunch on the debris that littered the floor. He asked again when he was a few feet away from the two of them. "Where's Mother?" He stepped closer still to but stopped for a moment as he saw he was ankle deep in beautiful flowers. "Gross. Now, where's Mother?"

"There's no one here!" Tifa shot back fiercely.

"Fine. Play with me?" He asked, outstretching his hand to Marlene and her kitten. Without having to be told, Marlene made a run for a nearby pillar. She crouched behind it, kitten cuddled to her chest, and peeked out to watch what would happen. "I guess that's a no."

Tifa pulled her black leather gloves from her back pocket and pulled them onto her hands. _I don't know who this guy is, but he won't mess with me! _She bawled her hands into fists and stood feet apart, mind focused, ready for a fight. _Wait… oh no… I can't fight…_

"This is going to be fun," he smirked as he took the same stance as Tifa.

_I have to protect Marlene, but I shouldn't fight… shouldn't exert myself. If I do… fight… will it hurt my baby?_


	2. Three Months Ago Part I

The next chapter of my Final Fantasy story featuring Tifa, Cloud, and Reno. Sorry if the characters feel out-of-sorts but I've taken a few privileges with them. Tifa's a little gloomier than she usually is, Cloud a little angrier. Reno is more or less the same: happy and oblivious ;)

This is a flashback chapter, taking place three months before the previous chapter and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

_Three Months Earlier_

* * *

"How's business lately, Teef?"

Tifa jumped, startled by the sound of a man's voice. She had been lost deep in her own thoughts as she emptied out ash trays and cleaned glasses, intending to close up 7th Heaven for the night and go to bed. As she looked up, she mentally crossed her fingers it would be Cloud. He'd been gone for over two months and Tifa had hoped vaguely he would return on each day that passed.

"Oh, hello Reno," she smiled as the lanky red head strolled into the bar, his hands tucked deep into his pockets.

_It's a good thing you don't get your hopes up anymore, Tifa. _She thought to herself as she tucked her bar rag into her back pocket.

"So…?" Reno rocked back and forth on his heels, apparently waiting for Tifa to say something.

"Yes, Reno?"

"How's business?"

"If it weren't for you, I probably would have closed up long ago," she smiled, knowing that this is what the ever-full-of-himself Reno wanted to hear.

"Fantastic! How about a pint for your best customer then?" He slid onto a bar stool and leaned against the counter.

"Reno, I appreciate you coming in here every night to support the bar and check in on me and the kids, but don't you ever get tired of waking up in the morning with a hangover?"

"Not as much as you must be tired of waking up alone every morning." Tifa shot a glare at Reno. He was one of the few people that knew her true feelings for Cloud Strife and he let no moment go by when he didn't remind her. Of course Tifa had the upper hand when he teased her in her own bar.

"We're closing up for the night, Reno. So… good night."

"Oh, you're not just gonna kick me out on my sober ass, are you Teef?"

"Don't make me call the police again, Reno."

"Alright, alright. I'm going." Reno threw his arms in the air in defeat. He headed towards the door but before stepping through to the darkened street, he turned back. "Teef… you heard from Cloud?"

Tifa didn't have to say a thing, Reno knew the answer. He gave her a weak smile before exiting the bar. Tifa went around the other side of the counter and began to lift the stools off of the ground. All she needed to do was sweep, mop, and lock the door and she'd be able to end this day and hope tomorrow would bring Cloud home.

"How about a pint?"

Tifa heard the door open, but she didn't bother turning around: why bother when she knew it was Reno trying to get under her skin. "We're closed now."

"I think you could spare some time to have a pint with me."

"I said we're closed, Reno. Go home and get drunk there!"

"Reno? Has it been so long you don't recognize my voice?"

Tifa turned to see Cloud standing behind her. "Cloud!" She dropped the stool she had in her hands and it clanged to the ground, sounding like an atomic bomb in the utter silence of the bar. This was such a shock–Tifa had wished for two months now that this exact situation would occur but it was still a surprise to see him standing there: jacket slung over his back, motorcycle keys dangling from his fingers. It was nearly a big enough surprise to make her forget that Cloud had completely disappeared from her life for the umpteenth time and that she was angry…

Nearly.

She was still mad as hell.

"Hey Teef."

"Don't you 'hey Teef' me, Cloud Strife! Where have you been?"

Cloud shrugged. "Working things out."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "You said that the last time you disappeared, and the time before that, and the time before that. I know you've got things to work out, but what about your delivery service? What about the bar and the kids? What about me? We worry about you… we need you."

"Tifa, you don't need anybody–"

"Don't tell me what I need!" Tifa yelled, cutting Cloud off. "Don't you care about us at all?"

"Yes, Tifa, I care about you… but–"

"But nothing!" Tifa shouted again. She always had had a problem keeping her temper from getting the best of her when she was around Cloud.

"Tifa, don't start with this again! I've told you before–"

"You care about poor, dead Aerith more than Marlene or me or Denzel–he's sick, Cloud, with no cure coming and he knows it." Tifa's eyes blurred with tears at the thought of poor, sick Denzel. "But… but being with you makes him feel better. He asks for you every morning. It breaks my heart to tell him you're not here."

"And what about you, Tifa?"

"What about me?" Tifa grabbed the stool off the ground, slamming it on the counter. She grabbed the rag from her pocket and angrily wiped the bar. She had already cleaned the counter but she needed busy work. She needed anything to keep her from spinning around and kicking Cloud through the brick wall of the bar.

"How do you feel every morning when you wake up and I'm not here? Does it break your heart, too?" Tifa turned quickly and as she saw the look on Cloud's face, her skin crawled. There was something in his eyes that left her unsettled and that, of course, made her angry.

"Fuck you, Cloud! You've changed so much since we were kids–" Cloud cut Tifa off this time.

"Well a lot of shit has happened since we were kids, Tifa. Or had you failed to notice all the destruction and death around you? I mean, why should you, you've always been blissfully stupid to everything around you."

"You son of a bitch. You SOLIDER wanna-be–"

Cloud grabbed Tifa roughly by her arms, holding them stiffly at her sides. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare bring up SOLIDER."

"You know, I'm beginning to realize something about you." Tifa smirked as she stared into Cloud's eyes.

"What's that?" He asked as he dug his fingers harder into Tifa's soft flesh. Tifa didn't bother to struggle: if Cloud meant to strike out, she could easily defend herself and they both knew that.

"I'm beginning to realize that you cause a lot of pain when you leave, but you cause even more when you come back."

Cloud paused, doubt spreading through his mind. "Do you… do you really mean that?"

Tifa sighed loudly. She searched Cloud's face, stared into his sad eyes. For all of Cloud's bravado, for everything he'd been through, for all the battles he'd won, he was just a child. A scared child. Only a moment before he had been angry enough to mock her, but now he just looked sad and tired and completely defeated. Tifa's own anger drained as she beheld him. Life had been hard on Cloud and apparently his last quest had not held the answers he sought.

"You're right Tifa. I do cause more pain then I'm worth."

"Cloud, I didn't mean that–"

"I'm not fit to help myself, let alone anyone else. I just spread pain wherever I go." He dropped his hands from Tifa's arms, his eyes drooped to the floor. Tifa wiped the tears out of her own eyes before throwing her arms around Cloud in a tight, possessive hug. "Tifa?"

"I've missed you Cloud, and I'm sorry that we always have to fight like this. Let's just start this all over again, huh?"

Cloud smiled, Tifa could sense it, and he wrapped his arms around Tifa to return her hug. "Alright, we'll start again… um… hey, Teef."

"Hello Cloud."

Cloud let go of Tifa and backed away, standing awkwardly: an arm's length away. "I don't want to bother you, but I need a hot shower and a bed for the night."

"Not before a pint though." Tifa took the stool she had just slammed onto the counter and put it back down for Cloud. She moved to the other side of the bar and grabbed a pint glass. "Still drink the stuff that's as dark as night?"

Cloud smiled as he took a seat. "Yeah. And if the kitchen is still open I'd like to place an order for your amazing triple cheese burger."

Tifa smiled as she slid a full pint towards Cloud. "I guess the kitchen can open for a burger. You just better hope that Reno doesn't see the smoke from the grill and think we're open, I've already given him the bum's rush once today."

Cloud took a deep drink of his frothy, dark pint before remarking: "You'd think he'd have learned by now."

"None of us ever learn anything." Tifa remarked from the kitchen. She had turned on the grill, slapped on half a pound of ground beef. The fat from the meat sizzled and splattered. "It's why he fits in so well here with us."

Reno never learned anything. Nor did Cloud. Nor did Tifa. They were all cursed to go around and around in the same circles they had always moved in. Cloud to be loyal to those he had loved and felt he had let down, all the while never realizing that by doing this, he was harshly shunning those who loved him now. Tifa to hide whatever true feelings she had for Cloud behind a tough outer shell that she showed to others and made them believe it couldn't be cracked, even though it cracked every night when she lay awake in bed, wishing Cloud was with her.

Tifa sniffled and wiped her eyes. Cloud's burger was done. It was time to plate it and serve it. And too, once again, not learn her lesson.


	3. Three Months Ago Part II

Here's the next chapter for you folks. Sorry I didn't update last week, my cat had to be put down and I wasn't really in the mood to post things on the internet.

Anyways, here's the next chapter and things are pretty sexy ;)

Enjoy!

* * *

Tifa stumbled upstairs to go to bed long after her usual time. She had stayed up to keep Cloud company. She had cooked him dinner and served him beer and he told her to go to bed, to not disrupt her regular routine because of him.

Of course she didn't listen.

Tifa Lockhart was not one to take orders. Cloud knew it, he just liked raising her hackles. Tifa would make a face and raise her clenched fist up as if to strike him and Cloud would laugh. Tifa didn't mind terribly, she actually kind of liked it. Fighting was all she and Cloud really knew, and they would never actually come to blows between the two of them.

"I shouldn't have drank so much," Tifa muttered as she clutched the iron foot board of her bed. She usually didn't drink but Cloud had been drinking and every pint that Tifa had poured for him, he had insisted she pour one for herself. "Cloud, you always seem to get the better of me…"

She stumbled out of her clothing and slipped under the worn quilt that she had had since childhood. The cool sheets felt like heaven on her flushed flesh and when her alcohol-heavy mind hit her feather pillow, she couldn't imagine anything better than sleep.

"There's nothing better than sleep," she half muttered, half yawned. "I… just wish I wasn't sleeping alone…"

Tifa rolled onto her side. A dark silhouette stood in her doorway. At least, she thought she saw a dark silhouette. Her vision was blurry, her mental capacity slow. Her heavy eyelids drooped and before she could open them again, she was asleep.

* * *

Tifa woke up suddenly when her mattress dipped and the springs creaked loudly. She opened her eyes to find Cloud's muscular body looming over hers. He was on his hands and knees–straddling Tifa–keeping her pinned to the bed.

"Cloud?" Tifa mumbled, her tongue and mind still thick with alcohol. "What are you doing?"

"Just admiring you," he replied.

Tifa realized that her naked body was completely exposed. She must have kicked off her quilt while her drunken body tossed and turned. She tried to cover her breasts with her arm but Cloud caught her by the wrist. He pushed her arm slowly down until it was above her head: pinned tightly, but not roughly.

"You're too beautiful to cover up." Tifa couldn't see the look on Cloud's shadowed face, but she felt the small smile that graced his lips. He let go of Tifa's wrist and trailed his hot fingers lightly down her arm. She bit back a moan as his fingers met the skin of her neck. She gasped as his fingertips brushed over her breast. Her nipples stiffened instantly, so receptive to even the slightest touch of Cloud's. It sobered her too. Before her mind had been fuzzy and heavy, but now she felt awake and alert.

Cloud's hand came to rest on Tifa's hip. She bit her lip to stop another moan escaping.

"Tifa… do you want to do this?" Cloud's voice broke the silence and brought goosebumps to Tifa's skin.

_Is he asking to have… sex?_

Tifa had to bit her lip once more to stop from immediately crying out yes. She was clear-minded now, she should think about her actions. She didn't have alcohol to hide behind.

"Well Tifa?" Cloud asked. He pressed his fingers into her flesh. Urgently. Tifa smiled at his urgency but squirmed under his grip. She was unsure of what to do: to say. This wasn't her first time with a man, but it would be her first time with Cloud… perhaps her first time to love.

Although that might have been asking too much considering the look on Cloud's face was not one of love, but one of carnal desire. He had been drinking–was possibly completely drunk–and had had the good luck to stumble into Tifa's room after she had kicked off her clothing and her blankets.

Tifa pushed herself onto her elbow with the intention of sitting, of grabbing her blanket and wrapping it around her. But Cloud was still on top of her and pushed her–not unkindly–back down onto the mattress.

"Is that a no?"

"Cloud…"

"Yes Tifa?"

Tifa had thought that she could say no to Cloud. She thought she could resist him. Why she thought that she didn't know: she'd loved him since childhood, and yearned for him more than anything while he was away. She looked into his blue eyes and made her choice.

"I am tired of sleeping alone, but make it worth my while."

"Worth your while?"

"You leave me so often. Give me something to remember you by for next time."

Cloud smiled, and even in the dim light of the room, Tifa saw it. That was all the motivation she needed to be brave, to finally make a move on the boy she'd loved since childhood.

"Don't worry Teef, I'll make it worth your while." Cloud leaned down and kissed Tifa. It was the first kiss the two had shared and the butterflies that had been bouncing around Tifa's stomach became a jackhammer. She wanted Cloud, now more than ever. She hungrily kissed back and desperately pulled him towards her.

Cloud's hand moved from Tifa's hip to the small patch of dark hair between her legs. She eagerly spread her legs wider. Cloud held his hand just above her tender flesh though: he made no move to touch her. Tifa would have feared Cloud didn't like what he saw or had changed his mind, but he was trembling nearly as much as she was.

Cloud looked from where his hand precariously hovered to Tifa's face. She bit her lip as his blue eyes met her brown ones. He said nothing but kept his intense eyes trained on hers. A moment passed and Tifa thought maybe she should speak out, but before she could, Cloud found what he was looking for in Tifa's eyes because his quivering fingers met her sex and neither one had anything left to say.


	4. The Fight in the Church Part II

This chapter was supposed to go up last Wednesday but a funeral unexpectedly came up and I was unable to finish it. Hoever, here it is now, so enjoy

Please note that the last two chapters took place in the past, but this one is back to present time. Not that I think anyone is incapable of figuring that out for themselves I was just a little unsure about how I would present the jumping from back and forth in time in separate chapters. Anyways, that's enough outta me, enjoy!

* * *

_Present Time_

* * *

The battle had been exhaustive.

The guy that Tifa fought against just wouldn't stay down. Whatever she did, the mysterious sliver haired man just kept coming back for more. Tifa would throw a punch, he would throw a punch. Tifa would strike him with a kick, he would strike her with his metal gauntlet. Tifa would throw him into the pews, he would throw the pews at her.

There was a point when Tifa felt she had won; the mysterious man was buried under rubble at the back of the church. Pieces of solid stone roof and jagged wooden pews were piled on top of him.

Tifa stood, tense, at the front of the church. She was out of breath and had a bloody lip from when the guy had let loose an electrical shock from his arm gauntlet right into her face, but she had had worse and could easily take worse.

After a moment passed and then another, Tifa loosened her clenched fists and turned towards where Marlene stood. She smiled at the little girl and took a step towards her. The sound of a ringing phone striped the smile off of Tifa's face and as she turned, the rubble at the back of the church exploded, and the man stepped out, nearly completely unharmed.

Tifa gasped in disbelief. She had dragged his face through the solid stone floor before kicking him with all her might into a pile of hardwood pews. She thought it would at least knock him out but he didn't have a scratch on him. Tifa's fanfare had been too soon.

He looked towards Tifa but made no move towards her. He grabbed his ringing phone out of his pocket, flipped it open, and put it to his ear. "There's nothing here," he moaned into the phone. His voice wavered and cracked. "I am not crying!" He shouted. He sighed before replying: "Fine. I'll bring the girl."

He clicked the phone closed and put it in his pocket. He turned towards Tifa and smirked: menacingly. He picked up a pew and threw it right towards her. She swatted it away with the ease of swatting away a bothersome bug. Tifa took a step towards the mysterious man but–with a speed unlike anything Tifa had ever seen–he was suddenly upon her.

The pew had been nothing more than a distraction. Tifa realized that too late.

The man jabbed his gauntlet into her chest and Tifa had just enough time to gasp before she received the full brunt of an electrical shock right through her body.

Marlene screamed as Tifa flew backwards and hit a massive stone pillar behind her. Tifa cried out in pain–nothing she had ever experience was as painful as the high-voltage electricity that raced through her body. It was like a hundred thousand suns worth of heat and energy traveled through her: it burned from her fingers to her toes, it blurred her vision, it sizzled through her hair.

Tifa couldn't even begin to think about fighting back. The mysterious man wouldn't have let her anyways. Within a blink of Tifa's eyes he was beside her, the double prongs of his gauntlet stabbed right into her stomach.

The man discharged his weapon again, and this time, he wasn't just fucking around. The charge travelled through Tifa and shattered the stone pillar behind her as if it were made of peanut brittle and not solid granite. She flew backwards again, this time landing among the daffodils that grew out of the broken church floor. She was hardly breathing, her heart barely beating.

The mysterious man stepped forward, gauntlet armed with voltage even higher than his last strike. He intended to kill her now, even though there was little hope she'd pull through from the shock he'd just given her. His gauntlet had enough power to shatter solid stone; no doubt he could shatter this one girl who thought she could put up a fight.

"Have to be sure. Kadja wants me to be sure," he said, a twisted smile upon his lips.

"Hey!" The man turned in time to see a bright blue ball of matria hit him between the eyes. The little girl had thrown it. He scowled at her but when he saw that she stood in front of a cooler filled to the brim with different matria, he smirked.

He forgot about finishing off Tifa and moved towards Marlene with is hand outstretched. "How about you play with me now?"


	5. The Black Void Part I

Cloud strode through the pews of Aerith's church a little most hesitantly than he normally did. It had been a few days since he'd been there last and something had changed. The atmosphere felt alive and pulsing, as if something had happened recently: something big. He saw he was right when he noticed a limp form lying among the yellow and white daffodils.

"Tifa!" Cloud jumped over a smashed up pew and flew through the flower patch in a panic. He prayed to any number of things and people that she wasn't dead. He'd seen Aerith's body fall to this church's floor: dead by Sephiroth's hand, he prayed that he didn't have to lay another one of his friends body to rest after having found them in this damn church.

He dropped to his knees beside Tifa but hesitated with his hands. She was beat up badly; her face was bleeding and so were her legs, the blood trickling down and spotting the white and yellow flowers red.

Cloud knew that if she was bleeding internally or had broken bones moving her would make it worse. But the blood on her thighs spoke to him with an urgency that couldn't be ignored or overlooked. If that was an artery that had split he could kill her by waiting. He decided to hedge his bets and went to staunch the blood from her thighs.

Cloud rolled back Tifa's shorts very gently: the leather was slick with blood. Cloud prayed that he wasn't too late to save her but, as he ran his hands over her pale, flushed skin, he didn't discover any open and bleeding wounds. There were no knicks, no scrapes: just blood.

Having known Tifa for years, Cloud came to what he believed was the only reasonable explanation. "It's not her blood," he said as he wiped the blood off his fingers. "It's someone else's blood."

With the threat of a broken artery passed, Cloud collected the limp, barely breathing Tifa into his arms to try and rouse her. "Tifa, Tifa wake up. Please wake up."

* * *

Tifa floated through a world of darkness. She wasn't asleep, this wasn't comforting like sleep. She had been knocked out: she knew because she'd been here before. There was a strange difference this time though. Where as in the past this dark void had been a relief from the pain of a particularly bad beating, an empty place where her body would pump her full of endorphins and fix itself while she was in relative ease. Today though, there was pain. And a lot of it.

The electrical shock had sent her body into its death throws.

Her heart stopped.

She stopped breathing.

Her brain shut down and blinked out.

Tifa's body was barely holding on. She was sent to her dark void and she believed she wouldn't be returning from it. At that moment, with all the pain, she would have gladly given up the fight if another shock had come. But another shock didn't come and her body fought on to reboot itself and climb out of the black void.

Her heart began to beat.

She inhaled and exhaled.

Her brain sparked and shot on once again.

She seemed to be in working order once again. Although she still floated through her black void and she had a pain in her stomach that left her feeling… lacking, for some reason.

_Tifa, Tifa wake up. Please wake up._

A line of light, like the sun rising in the morning, cracked along the horizon of Tifa's black void. She began to feel solid again.

_Tifa, Tifa wake up. Please wake up._

Cloud? Was that Cloud calling out from the blackness?

The sliver of light suddenly exploded into a red supernova of light and pain and perception of the real world as Tifa left her unconscious void behind and opened her eyes.

* * *

Tifa stirred gently before bolting up with a scream.

"The baby!"

As she let the red supernova of consciousness wash over her, she had realized what the lacking inside of her was: she had lost the baby. Although, in this case, _lost_ wasn't the right term. The electrical shock that the mysterious man had delivered straight to her stomach had _taken_ her baby away.

She had never been so sure of anything in all her life; she had come too and felt the pain through her abdomen, felt the slick blood on her thighs. Her baby was gone. She had lost the fight and her poor unborn child.

"Tifa, who did this too you? Whose the baby? What happened?"

Tifa looked up to see that Cloud was cradling her and that it had, indeed, been him that had pulled her out of her dark void. Cloud Strife was both the light and the pain that sustained Tifa's life.

"How ironic," she muttered. She wanted to lift her arm to stroke Cloud's hair, but she couldn't move. The blackness was closing in on her once more.

"What? Tifa, what do you mean?"

Cloud continued to ask her questions as her consciousness slipped away and her form became limp and unresponsive once more.

* * *

Cloud's heart swelled when he had heard Tifa groan and looked down to see that her eyelids were fluttering: trying to open. She was coming around–her wounds weren't life threatening.

As Cloud watched her eyes gently flutter, she had suddenly bolted up right with a loud and startled cry of: "the baby!" He had proceeded to ask her whose baby she was referring too and who had attacked her–and been attacked by her. She struggled to keep her eyes open before replying weakly: "How ironic."

She passed out again but, this time around, her breathing was stronger and her heart beat more normal. Cloud could have wept with relief that she was okay. Her thoughts were a little disheveled but that would pass after she got some rest and regenerated some of her lost blood.

Cloud put his strong arms under Tifa's legs and back and lifted her up from her daffodil bed. She didn't stir and Cloud suspected that she wouldn't for many hours.


End file.
